TERRAIN OF UNCERTAINTY

Dharamshala: The mountains look beautiful, but danger lurks within. A fascinating five-Test series, one of wonderful twists and turns, now winds down to its last leg here at the panoramic HPCA stadium. It’s not the spectacular locale, however, but the uncertainty of these hilly conditions that has both India and England worried. Predicting both the weather and the way the pitch will behave is fraught with risk.
England, who have already lost the plot, are seeking to script at least an entertaining closing chapter with a win in this dead rubber.India, who have stolen their fire, will look to rub it in and earn some vital World Test Championship points. Above all, it’s how the conditions play out that may make this dead rubber come alive.
Pre-game day was bright and sunny, and the hope of an improving forecast may prevent either team from indulging in expensive gambles. The pitch looks brown, bald and sterile but looks can be deceiving. England captain Ben Stokes was confident there would be life in it, saying, “It looks like a wicket that could have a bit of carry and pace.”
That “could-have” part, though, made England stick to two quicks in the first XI in the returning Mark Wood — the out of form and stomach-trouble beset Ollie Robinson has been dropped — along with James Anderson. The team seems to have junked the idea of a third seamer.
There is a caveat, though. Shoaib Bashir not only has a cut on his spinning finger but a mild bout of food poisoning that seems to be going around, leaving the door ajar for England to take a last-minute rain check on the proposed XI. “If that’s the case, we’ll have to consider what we think is best,” Stokes said on the possibility of a change.
England are banking on the nip in the air and the cold to enable longer spells from their seamers if they get some help here. Stokes himself turning his arm over occasionally could well be the icing, though it has seemed a remote possibility so far in this series.
How the visitors perform here will decide the road ahead for the bold ‘Bazball’ ethos. The team now has a middling record of having drawn one and lost five of its last 10 Tests, two to Australia and three on the trot here after winning in Hyderabad.
Stokes chose to pick the positives. “There is obvious disappointment but we were written off completely before we had even played a game in this series. Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir... people couldn’t believe we’d picked them. Look at what they’ve managed to achieve. India’s record at home is phenomenal.”
There’s no doubt England have pushed India in this series, and Rohit Sharma’s men will have kept an eye on that England XI. Wintry conditions mean the pitch is unlikely to go cold on the players. This could well turn out to be a nice batting surface apart from moments of disquiet at both ends of a day’s play. It’s the same pitch which hosted a Ranji Trophy game between HP and Delhi in early Feb, a match in which both batters and seamers came into play, but it’s hard to say whether that is a pointer to this Test.
Rohit Sharma ventured briefly into pitch-reading territory before clamming up. “I haven’t played a Test here but there has been one Test here, against Australia in 2017, where both seamers and spinners were in play,” he said. “But right now, the weather is different. I’m not sure how the pitch is going to react. Looks like a good pitch, there will be some movement at the start and back-end of the innings, and in the middle phase there will be some spin. Or maybe not, I don’t know.”
That means India too could play safe and go with their usual three spinners and two quicks, though Rohit admitted he wasn’t averse to making changes if needed. “If we feel the weather is going to be like this, there’s a good chance,” he said on the possibility of a third seamer being picked. Then again, lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah can be a handful all by himself in all circumstances and third spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who made his Test debut here, is a vastly improved and rare breed of bowler.
As for the beleaguered Rajat Patidar,, the batter is likely to get another go, judging by the way this team management has backed its picks in recent times.